Have you ever wondered where you’ll go after you die? I haven’t actually thought about it too much, to be honest, until a recent trip to Seoul got me thinking. 

During this trip, when I was shopping in Myeong-dong, I heard some Korean evangelists who were preaching over loudspeakers. While I don’t understand Korean, I assumed from the sign on their booth that they were saying people should convert to Christianity or they would go to hell, a place of great darkness and “gnashing of teeth”. 

Despite being a Christian myself, I couldn’t help but wonder at their approach. Was the way they evangelised too intense? It felt almost like fearmongering to me.

While I still can’t say I entirely agree with their approach, reading The Benefit of Doubt by Craig Groeschel opened my eyes to the fact that hell is indeed very real.

Though we often agree that it’s better if we don’t talk about it because of how uncomfortable it makes us feel, perhaps that’s exactly why we need to talk more about it.

After all, Jesus talked a lot about hell – even more than He spoke about heaven. And so, for those of us perplexed by why our good God would talk so much about such an evil place, perhaps the best place to start would be to unpack what hell even is.  

So, what is hell? 

Unlike heaven, where we enjoy eternal, uninterrupted life with God, hell is a place where people are eternally separated from God. Essentially, in heaven, God is everywhere, and in hell, God is nowhere – forever. 

Coming to terms with this was sobering. It also dawned on me how casually many of us throw around the word “hell” in our everyday conversations. Maybe, deep down, this reveals what we actually believe about it – that it’s not such a big deal. 

But it is a big deal. Our culture often portrays hell lightly, even humorously, as if it’s an endless party where you can do whatever you want without consequences.

What we forget is that here on Earth, even in a broken world, God still allows us to experience glimpses of His goodness – through laughter of our loved ones, the taste of good food and the beauty of creation. All these moments are little tastes of heaven, flowing from God’s presence. 

… how casually many of us throw around the word “hell” in our everyday conversations. Maybe, deep down, this reveals what we actually believe about it – that it’s not such a big deal. 

Hell, on the other hand, does not have any of that. Scripture describes it as a place of perpetual darkness (Matthew 8:12) where people suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His might (2 Thessalonians 1:9).

It’s not a party. It’s an existence that is completely cut off from love, joy and beauty, because being separated from God means being separated from the source of all these things. 

This then, raises a difficult question: How can God be good and create hell?

How can God be good… and create hell?

The answer is that we can’t extricate God’s loving nature from His justice and righteousness. Because He is love, He offers grace to the sinner, and because He is just, He requires punishment for our sins.

Since we’ve all sinned against God who is altogether holy (Romans 3:23), that punishment is infinitely serious – hell is then the place where God’s justice is fully fulfilled. 

Originally, hell was a place where the devil and his fallen angels could be righteously punished (Matthew 25:41). But when humanity also entered into rebellion against God, we shared their fate too. 

Yet God’s love still won out. At the cross, as Psalm 85:10 put it, mercy and truth met together; righteousness and peace kissed.

Jesus, who was completely sinless and fully God, bore the punishment we deserved, so that through His grace, we may be forgiven of our sins and have a way out. 

Still, a gift must be received. God doesn’t push His love on us – He gives us the freedom to choose. Naturally, if we reject the payment He offered for our sin, we must pay the price ourselves and “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). 

Hell, then, is not the contradiction of God’s love but the consequence of rejecting it.

But here’s the hope

Jesus didn’t just come to pull us out of hell – He came to bring us into His light. Beyond our eternal destinies, Jesus invites us into the joy of knowing Him here and now.

How comforting is it that we have the light of the world (John 8:12) on our side – someone not only able, but also willing to shine into the darkest parts of our lives and giving us strength for every struggle!

Hell, then, is not the contradiction of God’s love but the consequence of rejecting it.

So maybe those Myeong-dong preachers had a point after all — though it would have been far, far better if their message came from a place of love rather than fear.

Hell is real and it is serious, but the greater truth is that God’s love is just as real, and infinitely more powerful. That’s why we can’t afford to ignore conversations about eternity, uncomfortable as they may be, for the reality of hell makes the hope of the Gospel shine even brighter. 

And this hope isn’t just for us to keep – it’s for us to share. As those who have been lit up by Christ, we too are called to shine His light in this dark world (1 Peter 2:9), so that others too may leave their individual darknesses behind and walk with Jesus, now and forever.